And again, departing from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. And they bring to him someone who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they implore him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears, and having spit he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and says to him, “Effatha,” (that is, “Be opened”). And immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it, and were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:31-37

In Mark, chapter 7, we have the account of Jesus healing a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. But notice how Jesus healed this man. He didn’t just put his hand on him and heal him; Jesus took this man aside from the crowds of people where He could have his full attention. He put His fingers in the man’s ears so he would understand that Jesus was going to open his ears that he might hear. Having spit with His mouth, Jesus touched his tongue, indicating that He was about to take away the impediment in his speech. And Jesus looked up to heaven so that this man would know that Jesus was calling upon God to do this miracle and God would receive the glory.

Jesus then sighed and said to the man: “Effatha,” (that is, “Be opened”). And the Scriptures tell us that “immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.”

The people who saw this mighty work of Jesus were astonished. Even though Jesus told them to tell no one, they couldn’t help themselves and told everyone what Jesus had done.

It was truly an amazing thing when Jesus opened the ears of one who was deaf or opened the eyes of one who was blind. But even more amazing is when Jesus opens the eyes and ears of those spiritually blind and deaf to see and hear with understanding His life-giving word!

It happens when Jesus takes us aside from the noise and distractions of this world and speaks and applies to us His life-giving Word, words of forgiveness and life through faith in Him and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all. And in the Sacraments, He does so in a very personal and descriptive way, washing away our sins in the waters of Baptism and giving us, in the Lord’s Supper, to partake of His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Consider Jesus’ words in John 5:25-27: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man.”

Though people close their eyes and ears to the Word of God and are often hardened in their foolish unbelief and without understanding (cf. Isa. 29:9-12), God, through the preaching of His Word, opens the eyes of those who are spiritually blind and the ears of those who are spiritually deaf. It is as St. Paul writes: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Isaiah, in chapter 35, verse 5, prophesied of Jesus and His work, saying, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.” And, in Isaiah 29:18, we read, “And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.”

Through the preaching of the Word of God, our Lord Jesus opens the eyes of the spiritually blind and the ears of the spiritually deaf. He raises the spiritually dead to life. He creates faith in men’s hearts and unlooses tongues to sing His praise.

It is as the Bible says of Jesus in John 1:4: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

And, Jesus said in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit that revives. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.”

So today, Jesus, through the preaching of His Word, calls people to repent of their sins and place their faith in Him as the Messiah and Savior of the world for pardon and forgiveness. He calls people to come to Him in faith and receive life everlasting; and the Holy Spirit, working through the Word opens blind eyes and deaf ears to see and hear.

Jesus calls, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

Think of Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith: in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers, and will at the last day raise up me and all the dead, and give unto me and all believers in Christ eternal life.”

To most, the Bible remains a closed book — they may have read from it and studied it but do not understand its message. But, by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God’s Word, Jesus still opens eyes, unstops ears and gives understanding that people might see their utter sinfulness and repent, looking to Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for pardon, forgiveness and life eternal.

God grant you eyes that see, ears that hear, hearts that understand and believe the message of His Word that you might obtain pardon and eternal peace through faith in Jesus’ name. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt. 11:15). Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]

“According to the grace of God which is given to me, I have laid the foundation like a wise master-builder, and another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how he builds upon it. For no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Upon what is your faith built? What is the central focus and teaching of your church? Is it on Christ and His innocent sufferings and death for the sins of the world? Or is it out of focus, off-kilter, and built upon some other teaching or foundation?

The well-known hymn verse by Samuel Stone reads: “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is His new creation by water and the Word. From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died” (The Lutheran Hymnal, #473).

The Church of Jesus Christ is built upon no other foundation than Jesus Christ and His cross. He created His Church by dying on the cross and making atonement for the sins of all and then sending out His disciples with the good news of forgiveness of sins and life eternal through faith in His name.

As believers in Christ and members of His Church, we “are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone” (Eph. 2:20). The “foundation of the apostles and prophets” is none other than their teaching, which is recorded for us in the Holy Bible, the Word of God.

And what is their teaching? It is Christ and His cross! It is the teaching that we are sinners who have come short of God’s holy demands but that we have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God made man. It is the teaching that through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, we sinners have forgiveness for all our sins and everlasting life in heaven.

In John 3:14-16, Jesus said: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Are other foundations ever laid? Most certainly! But, when other foundations are laid, and Christ and His cross are no longer the foundation and chief cornerstone, those who are built upon those other foundations are not Christian and their assemblies are not the Church of Jesus Christ in that place. Rather, their assemblies are cults — man-made organizations which lead only to destruction!

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). And, the Bible also says, “There is not salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Apart from Christ and His blood, shed upon the cross for the sins of the world, there is no salvation for sinners like you and me! No works which we can do, no religious acts or ceremonies of man, nothing but the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Jesus Christ in our stead can atone for our sins and save us from the wrath of God we so deserve on account of our sins. That is why it is so foolish for man to build upon any other foundation than Christ and His Word.

This is why St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “According to the grace of God which is given to me, I have laid the foundation like a wise master-builder, and another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how he builds upon it. For no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10-11).

St. Paul preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; cf. 1:23-24). He taught that all of us “have sinned and come short of the glory of God” but that all who believe are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:23-25; Cf. v. 19-28).

St. Paul also taught that we receive this salvation in Christ through faith and not by any merit or work of our own.

He wrote to the believers in Galatia in Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ so that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

When we simply believe that, in Christ Jesus and for the sake of His cross, we sinners obtain pardon and have forgiveness of God, God’s forgiveness becomes our own and we have eternal life in heaven (cf. Rom. 3:28; 5:1-2).

This is the foundation he, by the gracious working of God, has laid. And, this is the only foundation upon which the Church of Jesus Christ can be built and upon which we can rest securely and be saved!

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may trust in You alone for our salvation and build upon You and Your cross as the chief cornerstone of all our teaching. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

9 And he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray: one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not as other men are: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his chest, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Are you justified in God’s eyes? Does God count you just and righteous and holy in His sight? Or, are you guilty and condemned, headed for eternal damnation because of your sins? The Bible tells us in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever things the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for by the law comes the knowledge of sin.” And, in verse 23, it says, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

So, how can we be justified before God and acceptable in His sight? Look at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Who went to his house justified?

Was it the Pharisee who counted himself righteous before God because of his outward obedience to the commandments of God? Did God count him righteous because he gave alms to the poor? Was he really justified because he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed? No, but he shall be abased, brought low, condemned, because even his best works do not measure up to God’s standards (cf. Isa. 64:6).

How about the tax collector? He collected taxes for the Roman government. And, to make a living, he had to charge even more than what the Romans demanded. He was viewed as both a traitor and a thief. Certainly, he did not deserve to be justified by God and counted righteous.

But, how did he pray? In verse 13, we read, “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his chest, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’”

And what does Jesus say? “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (v. 14).

Note that the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican was told by Jesus “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” (v. 14). And, from this parable, we can learn much.

When we feel that God will accept us, hear and answer our prayers, regard our worship, or receive us into His everlasting kingdom because of who we are and what we have done — because we have been faithful Christians and are not unfaithful sinners as so many others are, we are praying in a similar fashion as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. The pharisee may have counted himself as just, but he was not counted just and righteous in the sight of God!

Rather, we should come to God as did the humble tax collector who knew of his own sinfulness and unworthiness before God. When we come before God, we should come humbly, acknowledging our sin and looking to Him for mercy and forgiveness. With the tax collector, we join in praying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Again, Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (v. 14).

We are all unworthy sinners according to God’s holy commandments. We have no grounds to view ourselves as just or righteous in God’s eyes. Thus, if we exalt ourselves and count ourselves righteous and worthy before God based on our own works or merits, we will be abased and find ourselves cast into the eternal fires of hell.

But if, on the other hand, we humble ourselves and acknowledge our utter sinfulness and look not to our own righteousness but to the perfect righteousness of Christ and to His innocent sufferings and death on the cross for the sins of the world, we shall be justified before God and given the eternal joys of heaven! Cf. Romans 3:21ff.

In Psalm 34:18, we read: “The LORD is near to those who are of a broken heart and saves those who are of a contrite spirit.”

And, we have it spelled out for us in 1 John 1 and 2 (1:8-9; 2:1-2): “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. … My little children, these things I write to you so that you do not sin. And if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Since Christ died for our sins and rose again (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3ff.), we can come before God in faith and with the assurance that He will forgive our sins and hear and answer all our proper prayers (cf. 1 John 5:11-15). One might even say that we come to the LORD God in humble boldness — humble because we are unworthy sinners, but in boldness because Christ died for us and redeemed us (cf. Heb. 10:19ff.).

And, when our last hour comes, we can have the assurance that we are counted just and righteous and have eternal salvation entirely of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

It is as we read in Ephesians 2 (1,4-10). We “were dead in trespasses and sins. … But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not by works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Before Thee, God, who knowest all, with grief and shame I prostrate fall. I see my sins against Thee, Lord, the sins of thought, of deed, and word. They press me sore; I cry to Thee: O God, be merciful to me! O Jesus, let Thy precious blood be to my soul a cleansing flood. Turn not, O Lord, Thy guest away, but grant that justified I may go to my house at peace with Thee. O God, be merciful to me! Amen. (“Before Thee, God, Who Knowest All,” The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn # 318, Verses 1,3. By Magnus B. Landstad, 1861; Tr. Carl Doving, 1909.)

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]

And he [Jesus] said, “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts: adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man.” Mark 7:20-23 (Read v. 14-23)

It is not enough to be cleansed on the outside. And, certainly, cleansing one’s hands before eating will not make a person clean before God. Our real problem is not the dirt on the outside but the uncleanness and sinfulness on the inside — in our hearts.

Jesus explains in Matthew 15:17-20: “Do you not yet understand, that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the latrine? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart evil thoughts proceed: murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

Our sinful nature, inherited from Adam, is the cause of our uncleanness before God and it moves us to commit all sorts of sinful acts.

St. Paul, quoting the Old Testament Scriptures, further explains man’s sinfulness in Romans 3:10ff.: “As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. They have all gone out of the way. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

In Jeremiah 17:9, God’s Word says: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Or, as David wrote in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”

That is why we need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus which was shed on the cross to atone for the sins of the world (cf. Hebrews 9:22). Because of our sin-infected hearts, we cannot be clean of ourselves and we cannot cleanse ourselves. The only way to be counted clean before God is to have our sins washed away in Jesus’ blood.

Again, God’s Word says in 1 John 1:8-9: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And how can this be? How can a just and holy God pardon us and forgive our sins? God’s Word provides the answer in 1 John 2:1-2: “If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

It truly is as the 1876 hymn of Robert Lowry states in its opening verse, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

O dearest Jesus, grant that I not attempt to be clean by my own outward works but rather acknowledge the sinfulness of my heart and trust in You and Your shed blood for pardon, forgiveness and cleansing. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]

“I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right and that you in faithfulness have afflicted me. Let, I pray you, your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to your word to your servant.” Psalm 119:75-76

Are you suffering? Are you facing hardships and difficulties in your life? Do you know pain and heartache all too well?

As Christians, we learn from God’s Word that His judgments are always right — God makes no mistakes in His dealings with us. When He afflicts us and chastens us, He is being faithful to us, as a loving Father.

You need not feel that God has forgotten about you, or that you are suffering wrongfully. God has a purpose and a plan, and He is working for your good (cf. Rom. 8:28; Heb. 12:3-11).

Peter writes: “Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19).

In our suffering, we can also find comfort! That comfort lies in the “merciful kindness” of our God. Even in our suffering, God has not dealt with us as we deserve. As the Scripture says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so is his mercy great toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12; cf. Lam. 3:21-23).

Instead of punishing us for our sins, God laid them upon His own Son, Jesus Christ, and punished Him in our stead. Our sins were punished upon Jesus’ cross, and Jesus’ resurrection on the third day proves that atonement was made and that we may find forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting through faith in Jesus’ name (cf. Isa. 53:6; Rom. 4:23 — 5:2).

So, dear Christian, take comfort! God is being merciful and kind to you even in your suffering!

O faithful and merciful Father, grant us forgiveness and life through faith in Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and comfort us in our afflictions with the knowledge that You are doing what is good and right for us and will lead us safely through this life to yourself in heaven. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]